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A favorite footnote of the day

By Douglas A. Berman

Though not of any consequence to the ruling in the case (or really to anything else), I could not resist a little monkeying around by spotlighting here a favorite footnote from a Third Circuit panel ruling in a capital case today.  Here is the textual paragraph for context and then the footnote:  After a psychiatric evaluation, Hammer presented an insanity defense. A forensic psychiatrist testified that Hammer suffered from dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder) and that one of his alter personalities[FN2] killed Marti; therefore, the defense argued, Hammer himself was not legally responsible. [FN2] The defense?s forensic psychiatrist testified that Hammer had four alter personalities: 1) Jocko, a violent male; 2) Tammy, a female; 3) Wilbur, a child; and 4) Jasper, a chimpanzee...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 11, 2009 (boomark / email).